Virus To Keep Ship In Port

November 28, 2002|By Jerry W. Jackson and April Hunt Business Correspondents

Faced with a growing number of ill passengers on its flagship vessel, Disney Cruise Line on Wednesday canceled the upcoming Saturday cruise of the Disney Magic so that the 83,000-ton ship could be thoroughly sanitized.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed that the Norwalk virus is to blame for the illnesses, which by Wednesday had climbed to 120 of the 2,400 passengers and 800 crew members on board a seven-day Caribbean cruise.

It's the same virus that sickened more than 200 passengers on last week's Magic cruise and more than 500 passengers on a Holland America ship, the Amsterdam, in recent weeks, prompting that company to dock the ship at Port Everglades for a 10-day disinfection. That ship is set to sail again on Sunday.

On Wednesday afternoon, while the Magic was on its regular stop in Cozumel, cruise line President Matt Ouimet announced at a news conference that Magic would voluntarily skip its next trip to allow a more thorough cleaning.

In addition to usual procedures such as wipe-downs with chlorine, the delay will allow pillows to be replaced and workers to perform a more intense scrubbing.

"I understand that this will disappoint many families, but we feel this is the right thing to do," Ouimet said.

The 2,400 people who were scheduled to depart on the Nov. 30 cruise from Port Canaveral have been contacted, Ouimet said, and will receive a full refund and offer of another cruise at half price.

The next cruise after that, on Dec. 7, is still on.

Of the 120 people who have fallen ill this week, Ouimet said, all have been offered a flight home and a free cruise in the future. Only one couple has taken the offer.

David Forney, a supervisor at the CDC, said the agency was able to identify the virus on the Magic through stool samples taken from last week's sickened passengers.

Federal inspectors had cleared the trip Saturday after about 14 hours of cleaning at Port Canaveral, after the first group of ill passengers disembarked. But two days into the current cruise, more passengers became ill.

The agency did not order the Magic to be docked, Forney said.

"We're talking about the most common nonbacterial cause of gastrointestinal illness in the United States," Forney said. "This does happen."

So far, travel agents are not reporting many cancellations in the wake of the illnesses.

"When they start dragging people off and taking them to the hospital, that's when there will be widespread concern," said Lloyd Miller, president of Departures, a Winter Park travel agency.

The CDC is also looking into possible Norwalk outbreaks at two nursing homes in the country right now, and the illness has been blamed for past problems with cruise ships and in schools, where people are in contained areas and are likely to have lots of direct contact.

The illness is not typically life-threatening and usually lasts between three and four days.

"What we're trying to do is break the cycle of the virus," she said. "We already are making good progress. Now we are redoubling our efforts."

The Magic was last checked by federal inspectors in June and received one of the highest cleanliness ratings, 99 out of 100.

A bulletin earlier this year by the Alaska epidemiology department reported at least three instances of Norwalk-like viruses associated with ships cruising to Alaska or in Alaskan waters.

During Norwalk outbreaks, the report said, chlorine must be used at high rates, 1,000 parts per million, for several minutes, in order to kill the bug. "Other disinfectants used in routine situations do not work."

The virus is named for an outbreak in Norwalk, Ohio, 30 years ago.

Jerry W. Jackson and April Hunt write for the Orlando Sentinel, a Tribune Co. newspaper. Robert Johnson of the Sentinel staff also contributed.